How Can I Get My Puppy To Stop Biting?

One thing that is for sure is that puppies love to play and among the many games they play, most consist of some form of nipping or biting. When you bring home a new puppy, you will find out in no time that the puppy simply loves to bite and nip at your fingers among many other extremities that are exposed. This behavior while perfectly normal can lead to serious issues as the puppy matures into a dog if the behavior is not rectified.

As the leader of the pack, you are responsible for teaching the puppy the rules of the pack (home) and that the nipping and biting behaviors are not allowed. However, changing this behavior is not an easy task, but it does not have to be a hard one neither as there are many things that you can do to prevent this behavior from occurring. It is also important that you train the puppy that this behavior is not allowed by the time the puppy reaches the age of 15 weeks as after this time period, long term behaviors and habits will start developing.

If you have a new puppy and is younger than a few months old then the tips below will help you.

1. Start to show your puppy that you appreciate licking instead of nipping. When he changes his behavior and licks at your fingers or hands, be sure to praise him very lovingly. You can also encourage your puppy to lick more often by rubbing a little butter or coconut oil on your fingers. Let him know by soothing caresses that what he is doing is a good thing with each lick.

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2. If your puppy is still biting or nipping at your fingers and he is just been fed and really doesn’t need anything in its mouth, set him aside with a nice bone for a little while. This is where a crate would come in handy. Place the dog in the crate for a short period of time so that he can divert his mouthing attention to his favorite bone. And it is very important not to yell at or scold your puppy along the way. You must create a positive learning environment.

3. Whenever the puppy bites down hard on your fingers or hand, use a disciplinary tone of voice and give a command such as “No No” while looking sharply into his eyes. Hold this firm demeanor for a few moments and then immediately change your body language and go back to whatever it is you’re doing before, and with a soothing approach. Doing this procedure a few times is enough for your puppy to learn the command and to stop biting down hard when he is commanded.

Below are some more tips on bringing a new puppy into the home when you have an older dog already inside the home.

4. When you bring a new puppy into your home that has an established older dog, regardless of the dog’s age he will revert his behaviors back to that of a puppy. The reason for this is that he will see the attention that the new puppy is getting and attempt to mimic the behaviors out of jealousy. You will notice that when the dogs are playing with toys, one of them will attempt to collect all of the toys and guard them vigilantly. This is a form of establishing hierarchy and should not be interfered with.

5. If the dogs do get into a fight, it is important to remember to remain calm and to not yell which will only make the tense situation worse. The dogs will perceive this yelling as a form of threat and may escalate the fight. To actually stop the fighting, ignore the dogs, walk to the door, open it and step outside slamming the door behind you. The dogs are fighting for your attention and the moment that the door slams, they are distracted from the fight and with you gone, there is nothing left fighting over so in most of the cases the fighting will stop almost abruptly.

6. When it comes to feeding time, at first keep them separated. You do not have to place them in separate rooms, but you do want them far enough apart so that they do not compete over the food. Seeing as though the dogs are settling their hierarchy, if you allow them to feed to closely, the dominant dog will take all the food for himself warding off the submissive dog with barks and growls. Above all though, it is important that you feed the dominant dog first followed by the puppy. Later once the hierarchy has been well-established you can move their feedings closer together.